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Written in Folk Roots issue 156, 1996

PACO DÍEZ Y LA BAZANCA
Aguaclara
Several SCD-638 (1995)

A fairly average instrumental rumpty-tumpty opening track nearly got this consigned to the depressingly large stack of the dull, pedestrian, or wannabe folk-rock, new-age or derivative celtoid albums that have been in such a majority in Spanish releases that I was beginning to wonder if any life left in regional traditions was withering away behind their smokescreen.
      That might indeed be happening, but as it proceeds it becomes clear that this album is on the side of the angels.
      The material is drawn mostly from Castilla and León, the region away from the north coast but west, north-west and north of Madrid, reaching right over to border on Portugal and Galicia in the west and touching all the north-coast regions. Particularly represented is the western area including the cities of Zamora, Salamanca, Avila and Valladolid, which last is the home of Paco Díez, singer and player of gaitas, both Zamoran and Galician, guitar and traditional percussion. Other band members add further acoustic instruments including hurdy-gurdy, melodeon, laud, bandurria, clarinet, three-hole whistle, and more percussion, and the overall sound has an exuberant thickness, led by Díez’s baritone which some might find not to their taste, but it’s what works with this music; he doesn’t sound as if he’s trying to be traditional, he just sings like he understands and means it, and the result is as fine a recording of the essence of the music of his region as you’re likely to find.
      The distinctive tuning of the bagpipes, uncompromised by being put into equal temperament to fit the other instruments, gives a ragged but right feel in melodically varied songs sung and played with such an accessible, spirited populism that at first listen it would be possible to miss the fact that the arrangements are so well-judged they move the whole thing on without drawing attention to themselves; no precious self-consciousness here. The production is just right for the project - what we get is the music’s life, not a mental image of the studio.
      Not to say that there isn’t the odd synth in there, but unlike several Spanish recordings in the past the use of electronics is subtle, mature and supportive - no dated whizzes or washes. There is the occasional atmospheric touch; Canto de Arada is accompanied not just by cow-bells but by a whole, presumably sampled, cow. Damien Hirst, eat your heart out (now that might be an interesting piece of performance art).


© 1996 Andrew Cronshaw
 

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